On Tuesday, Idaho’s state House of Representatives approved a bill criminalizing medical treatments for gender dysphoric youth.
Alabama has already advanced similar legislation criminalizing hormonal and surgical interventions for minors, and in Texas, parents can be investigated by the Department of Family and Protective Services for allowing a child to transition medically.
The early transitioning approach, which typically involves a social and eventual medical transition, is not supported by scientific research as the best treatment for a child’s gender dysphoria. (I do not do clinical work anymore and am basing my conclusions on the research literature.) Most children will desist, outgrowing their gender dysphoria by the time they reach puberty. In the event that only a social transition is facilitated, research shows this is associated with gender dysphoria persisting.
Unfortunately, this information is for the most part completely hidden from parents making these decisions. Instead of allowing families to consider all sides of the argument, transgender activists and their allies frame any reference to desistence as hateful, choosing instead to promote the false narrative that every gender dysphoric child is at high risk of suicide if they don’t transition and vilifying any clinician or expert who disagrees.
When the discussion has become so impossibly one-sided, dissenters are left with little choice. As someone who supports transitioning in adults and is in favor of personal autonomy, in an ideal world, banning something would not be my preferred line of defense. But I have seen the extent to which trans ideology’s unscientific tentacles have woven their way into medical, educational, and scientific organizations. I am highly skeptical that activist groups responsible for these changes will ever consider quitting while they are ahead.
In Canada (where I am based), gender activists have free rein, and therapeutic approaches that are not gender affirming have been criminalized. There is no end in sight to the excesses of this movement — nor is there any glimpse of a return to a world in which gender and related treatments are not highly politicized.
Although I’ve been critical of early transitioning, I can certainly sympathize with families that will be affected by these legislative changes. These types of decisions are not easy for a parent to make. The well-being of these children remains the last consideration on gender activists’ agenda — this is the start of a backlash they have been provoking.
Dr. Debra Soh is a sex neuroscientist, the host of The Dr. Debra Soh Podcast, and the author of The End of Gender: Debunking the Myths About Sex and Identity in Our Society.
